Tag Archives | y chromosome

It was believed that the X and Y chromosomes – that define the sexes – did not communicate at all, but UK researchers from the University of Leicester’s Department of Genetics have shown that exchanges of DNA do occur between the X and Y in the regions previously thought to be completely isolated. Recently, it […]

The human Y chromosome (the male chromosome) is sometimes referred to as a “hall of mirrors” as the genes essential for sperm production are encoded in long stretches of mirror-image sequence. That unique pattern provides the lone Y chromosome with pairs of genes within its own structure that can back each other up, helping to […]

It has long been suspected that the sex chromosome that only males carry is deteriorating and could disappear entirely within a few million years, but until now, no one has understood the evolutionary processes that control the Y chromosome’s demise. Now, a pair of Penn State scientists has discovered that the Y chromosome has evolved […]